It is well established that forest fires and wild fires are often started by lightening strikes or caused by the careless negligence of hunters, campers and other out-door recreationalists. The result is that fires start and propagate in areas which are difficult to access on convention wheeled vehicles, or are inaccessible other than by air or on foot. Quite often, the approach taken to containing forest fires and wild fires is to use a combination of air delivered fire retardant or water in conjunction with ground support, that is, fire fighters to clear fire breaks and generally to work to contain or steer the course of the fire or to install, for example, sprinklers to wet the vegetation to help slow or help contain the fire. In the case of the latter, the fire fighter has to carry on foot the hose lines and sprinklers the distance between the equipment drop off point, once delivered by air or road, and the location for installation of the sprinklers. The distance may be rather great. Conventionally, the source of water for the sprinkler systems has been a lake or pond or the like from which water is pumped. Thus in the past a heavy motorized pump and fuel has to be brought to the lake or pond, typically, again, carried in manually, along with hoses to connect the pump to the sprinkler system.
As may well be imagined, notwithstanding that the fire fighters may be individually strong and fit and thus capable of sustained strenuous activity, it may take many man-hours of arduous labour which might otherwise be spent setting up a plurality of sprinkler systems or otherwise working to contain the fire, to merely set up one sprinkler system.
In the prior art, applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,008 which issued Jun. 29, 1982 to Kulyabko et al. for an Apparatus for Fish Protection. Kulyabko et al. disclose the use of a water-permeable screen mounted on a perforated suction pipe. Partitions are provided within the screen so as to cause a continuous wash-off stream directed along the screen surface, the stream creating a continuous fish-diverting current around the screen and which is taught to ensure protection of the screen against contamination with refuse.
Applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,290 which issued Jun. 17, 1980 to Wetmore et al. for a Self-Cleaning Inlet Screen to an Ocean Riser Pipe, Wetmore et al teaching fitting the lower inlet end of a cold water riser pipe in an ocean thermal energy conversion facility with a self-cleaning inlet screen which includes a right conical frustum of loose metal netting connected at its larger end to the pipe.
Applicant is also aware in the prior art of U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,625 which issued Nov. 10, 1953 to Rafferty for a Header Strainer for Liquid Lines in which a strainer member is disclosed for fitting in a nipple, U.S. Pat. No. 1,644,121 which issued on Oct. 4, 1927 to Greene for a Screen wherein a screen to cover the suction inlet of a centrifugal pump is disclosed, U.S. Pat. No. 1,451,394 which issued Apr. 10, 1923 to Hurst for a Fish Screen which discloses a funnel connected onto the end of an outlet pipe, U.S. Pat. No. 730,356 which issued Jun. 9, 1903 to Emond for a Filter in which a filter is disclosed for obstruction in the passage of the water to remove foreign matter, the filter including cone-shaped outer and inner casing. Applicant is also aware of Canadian Published Patent Application No. 2,266,703 entitled Zebra Mussel Filter Apparatus wherein it is taught to mount a filter bag over a foot valve of a water system. Applicant is also aware of Published Patent Application No.DE3413413 published Oct. 17, 1985, and entitled Apparatus for Continuously Separating Out and Diverting Solids and Cleaning Bodies From a Liquid Stream, wherein the use of two screens arranged in a roof shape within a cylindrical housing is disclosed.